Separated children seeking asylum are being housed in accommodation centres which fail to meet legal minimum standards of care or safety, health authorities have admitted.
This is despite growing evidence that some of these children are being trafficked into the country for abuse or exploitation.
A total of 328 children have disappeared from State care over the past five years from hostels and residential centres in Dublin.
Gardaí have investigated at least two cases where missing children later emerged in exploited situations such as prostitution.
The Health Service Executive (HSE) has confirmed to The Irish Timesthat none of the centres it uses meets the standards necessary for them to be registered to operate or provide accommodation for children.
However, it says it is in the process of upgrading them.
The Child Care Act, 1991 prohibits the establishment or running of any unregistered children's residential centre and requires that no person should take charge of such a centre.
The maximum penalty for infringement of the law is a fine of €1,260 or a jail sentence of 12 months, or both.
The centres, which are State-funded but privately operated, are not subject to independent checks by the Social Services Inspectorate.
In contrast, Irish children in State residential care are accommodated in centres with much better levels of staffing, support and security. In addition, they are inspected by the Social Services Inspectorate.
The disclosure comes as gardaí are investigating a Nigerian man in Dublin who is linked with a Dutch child trafficking gang.
Dutch authorities have been investigating the disappearance of 140 Nigerian children from asylum seeker centres since January, 2006. Some of these children were later found working in the sex industry in various European countries.
In a statement, the HSE said it is working to ensure that all residential centres for separated children seeking asylum will meet the standards set out in the Childcare Act, 1991.
"The HSE is currently upgrading its facilities to comply with the regulations of the act and all these homes will be registered with the HSE's registration and inspection service," it said.
"Once upgrading is complete, four homes will be used to accommodate under-16s. This process is due for completion in the coming weeks. Many separated children seeking asylum are also accommodated in foster care."
The Irish Timesreported last year that one accommodation centre, which was the source of concern among social workers over children going missing, rape allegations and violence, was not registered to operate.
A spokesman for the HSE confirmed at the weekend that none of the centres being used to accommodate young asylum seekers have met registration standards yet.
The children's charity Barnardos said fostering of these children should be the first choice. If this is not possible, it said children should only be placed in hostels as a short-term measure and they should be staffed with trained and Garda-vetted care workers. It also said gardaí should receive specialist training regarding the identification of trafficked children at points of entry into the State.
"As more information emerges surrounding the abuse and exploitation of these children in the Netherlands, the danger of placing children in 'open-type' hostels, where they can go missing from is once again underlined," said Barnardos' director of advocacy, Norah Gibbons.
"We have little or no information on where they are, who they are with or the conditions they are living in. At least two of these children have later emerged in exploited situations such as prostitution."
Ms Gibbons said co-operation between police forces re-inforced the need for international "real-time" information exchange if children are to be fully protected.
She said it was "not uncommon for a child to have been moved through three different jurisdictions".
